DEVICEHIGH
Type: Internal (5.0 and later)
Syntax:
DEVICEHIGH=[d:][\path]\filename [parameters]
DEVICE [/L:region, min;region,min...] [/S] =[d:][\path]\filename
DEVICE [size=hexsize] [d:][\path]\filename [parameters]
Purpose: Used in the CONFIG.SYS file to load device drivers into
upper
memory.
Discussion
Before DOS can load a device driver into upper memory, there must be an
upper
memory block (UMB) provider (such as EMM386) available and there must be
enough
space in that UMB. If there is not enough space in the UMB, the device
driver
will be loaded into conventional memory. You can check to see which
device
drivers have been loaded into high memory by using the /MEM /C command.
DOS executes device drivers in the order in which they appear in the
CONFIG.SYS
file. For some device drivers the order of execution is important.
If you load a device driver into high memory and then find that your
system will
not boot, you can press the F5 key to bypass the CONFIG.SYS file or you
can
press F8 to choose, interactively, the CONFIG.SYS lines you want to
execute.
(This feature is available only with DOS Version 6. If you are using an
earlier version of DOS, you can use a bootable disk from the floppy drive
to
bypass the problem CONFIG.SYS file.)
For more information on the DEVICEHIGH command, refer to Chapter 6, Tips
for
Advanced Users.
The following is a list of the device drivers provided with MS-DOS that
can be
loaded into high memory:
ANSI.SYS
EGA.SYS
DBLSPACE.SYS
PRINTER.SYS
DISPLAY.SYS
RAMDRIVE.SYS
DRIVER.SYS
SETVER.EXE
Options
parameters Used to specify any parameters required by the device
driver.
They are passed by DOS to the driver when it is loaded into memory.
/L:region, min - Available with DOS Version 6, this option specifies
the
region in upper memory and the minimal size in bytes which the device
driver
should occupy. More than one region can be specified if you separate
each
region with a semicolon. This option must precede the filename of the
device
driver.
/S - Available with DOS Version 6, tells DOS to shrink the UMB to the
size
specified by the /L option and create a new UMB from the remainder. This
option
must precede the filename of the device driver.
size=hexsize - Available with DOS Version 5 and later, this option
specifies
the minimum size memory block into which DOS should attempt to load the
driver.
This option must precede the filename of the device driver.
Example
To use the file ANSI.SYS as the standard device driver and to load it
into the
upper memory area, enter the following line in your CONFIG.SYS file:
devicehigh=c:\dos\ansi.sys
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